Lithium batteries are used extensively for portable electronic equipment and are increasingly being used to provide electrical back-up for wind and solar energy. The commercially used lithium ion (Li-ion) rechargeable batteries based on cobalt, nickel or manganese oxides for the cathode materials are known for their poor electrical conductivity and poor electrochemical stability which results in poor cycling (charge/discharge) ability. Olivine structures such as lithium iron phosphate, LiFePO4 or lithium manganese phosphate, LiMnPO4, operate at higher charge and discharge rates, but are still limited by low electrical conductivity and the kinetics of Li-ion diffusion.
Attempts to overcome the above deficiencies have included synthesis of nanosized crystals, termed nanocrystals, of lithium salts as well as mixtures of lithium salts and carbon nanotubes. Even though the mixtures of carbon nanotubes and nanocrystals of lithium salts show improvements in charge/discharge rates, the carbon nanotubes previously employed are not considered to be essentially discrete, i.e., individual uniformly dispersed tubes. Carbon nanotubes as conventionally made by gas phase reaction result in a tangled bundle of tubes with particle diameters ranging from 50 to 200 micrometers. Also, the lithium nanocrystals are not ionically or covalently attached to the surface of the discrete carbon nanotubes to provide for intimate electron transfer and enhanced mechanical strength of the active material. During charging and discharging of conventional lithium ion batteries, the nanocrystals expand and contract. Over a number of cycles, this leads to microcrack formation in the layer of active material and hence to higher internal resistance and decline of the battery performance. With crystals bound to and interconnected with discrete carbon nanotubes the microcrack formation due to severe mechanical vibration, bending, or expansion and contraction will be retarded.
Lithium salts have also been carbon coated with very thin coatings on the nanometer scale to enhance inter-particle electrical conductivity, but the carbon coating can slow the Lithium ion transport and may also react unfavorably with electrolytes over time. The carbon coating is considered to be amorphous in structure and is more likely to react with electrolyte than the crystalline carbon structure of the carbon nanotubes. Likewise, carbon particles have been added to the crystals of lithium salts to enhance inter-particle conductivity but these generally reduce the mechanical strength of dried pastes in the battery leading to cracking and reduced performance over time.
The present invention overcomes the difficulties of low electrical conduction, particularly due to expansion and contraction of the material during charging and discharging of the battery, improved lithium ion transport and mitigation of potentially damaging chemical side reactions by attaching nanosized crystals or nanosized layers of lithium ion active material to the surface of discrete, functionalized and well dispersed carbon nanotubes.
Likewise, for the lithium battery anode materials, active anode materials, such as carbon particles, tin oxide or silicon, can be attached to the discrete carbon nanotube surfaces to provide numerous benefits such as improved capacity, electron and ion conductivity and mechanical strength.
In addition to the discrete carbon nanotube network providing support and spatial stabilization of nanosized particles or layers for cathode or anode material of the lithium battery, other benefits include improved heat transfer media to avoid thermally-induced runaway, structural strength to the paste during manufacturing and high surface area per weight of lithium ion active material to provide good energy density. The uniform dispersion of discrete tubes will also provide a more uniform voltage gradient across the cathode or anode layer, therefore reducing the probability of locally high electrically resistive regions that can cause accelerated decay of performance in that local region.